Celebrities Who Sport Some Bold Neck Tattoos
Getting a tattoo is usually a big decision. If you're getting a tattoo on your upper leg or on your back, chances are, nobody is going to see it unless you show it to them. If you get a tattoo on your neck, well, there's no way of hiding that thing. Sure, if you have long hair you can cover some small neck tattoos, but it is one of the more public places you can choose to get tatted.
All of the celebrities on this list made the bold choice to get inked on their necks. Keep reading to find out which stars are sporting permanent neck art.
David Beckham
Footballer David Beckham is covered in tattoos, so it makes sense that he would have a tattoo on his neck as well. We have to say, tattoos really suit this dashing Brit. Beckham really is a family man, but his tattoos give him a bit of an edge. Plus, have you seen any of his Calvin Klein campaigns? We rest our case.
Beckham's neck tattoo is a gothic-style cross with angel wings. It's a testament to his love for Jesus.
Eva Longoria
Actress Eva Longoria seems pretty straight-laced, so we were kind of surprised that she chose to get such a bold and prominent tattoo. She also often wears her hair in an up-do, so this tattoo was usually on full display.
Longoria's former neck tattoo said the word "nine" as a tribute to her ex-husband, Tony Parker, who was number nine on the San Antonio Spurs basketball team. She had this tattoo removed after their divorce. This tattoo, like her marriage, proved to be temporary.
Travis Barker
Travis Barker, the drummer for the band Blink 182, is tatted up from head to toe. If you thought a neck tattoo was bold, check out the ink he has under his eye. Face tattoos are on another level.
Travis has several tattoos on his neck. They seem to be a part of a full chest piece. Right in the center of his neck he has a black and grey portrait of Marilyn Monroe. She's surrounded by more new-school abstract color work.
Cara Delevingne
Professional models don't often get tattoos because they're supposed to be blank canvases for designers, but Cara Delevingne isn't your average model. Cara has at least twenty tattoos (or twenty that the public has been able to spot).
One of Cara Delevingne's newest tattoos was unveiled on Instagram. It's a pair of eyes on the back of her neck. The design was created to appear as though the eyes are following any onlookers.
Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber is another celebrity who is covered in tattoos, and he actually has more than one neck tattoo. The one that's visible in this photo is a swallow with the word "forever" underneath it. This tattoo was done by famous artist Dr. Woo.
On the other side of his neck, Bieber has the word "patience" written vertically in gothic style letters. He also has a pair of angel wings on the back of his neck.
Hailey Bieber
Hailey Bieber has become more adventurous with body art ever since she married Justin. She has a tiny cross tattooed on the left side of her neck. Hailey is a very devout Christian. She and Justin definitely bonded over their shared devotion to Jesus Christ.
Hailey said of Hillsong Church, "They're very geared toward young people and making it applicable to everyday life, which I think is where people get a little confused in church because it can be hard to relate to something so old school."
Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez has at least ten known tattoos including a semicolon on her wrist and Arabic writing along her side, but we're focusing on her neck tattoos at the moment. This is a photo of a letter "g" tattoo that Selena has behind her ear. When Selena was first spotted walking around with this tattoo in 2015, a lot of her fans thought it was a "j" for "Justin."
In reality, she got this tattoo in honor of her baby sister Gracie, who was born on June 12, 2013.
Selena Gomez Again
Selena Gomez doesn't just have one neck tattoo— she has two (so far). This is the second tattoo that Selena ever got. According to the artist Bang Bang, "The tattoo was a tribute to a family member who she said means a lot to her." Many fans believe that this tattoo is a tribute to Selena's mother because the tattoo reads “LXXVI” (which is the number 76) and Selena's mom was born in 1976.
The tattoo was done at Bang Bang’s New York City studio on September 29, 2012.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is an absolute tennis legend. This woman is truly a boss. Serena often plays tennis in a short skirt and a tank top, so it's pretty hard for her to hide her tattoos. Interestingly, she doesn't seem to have many except for a very small rose on her shoulder, and the outline of a heart on the back of her neck.
Apparently, the rose on her shoulder symbolizes self-love, while the heart on her neck is for her husband and her family.
Vanessa Hudgens
Vanessa Hudgens became famous for playing goody-two-shoes Gabriella in High School Musical. Clearly, Vanessa has something of a rebellious streak because she got a (not very subtle) tattoo of a butterfly on the side of her neck. Butterfly tattoos usually symbolize freedom.
She also has a very small tattoo of an ohm symbol on the outside of her pinky finger. She told Access Hollywood that she got the tattoo so that she can spread positive energy.
Jessica Alba
Once upon a time, actress Jessica Alba had a tattoo of flowers on the back of her neck. She got the tattoo at the same time that her aunt and her mom also got tatted. In the end, Jessica wasn't happy with the design. Maybe she thought that it looked kind of common. In 2009, she began the process of laser tattoo removal to get rid of this tattoo.
She also has a tattoo of the Sanskrit word for "lotus flower" on her wrist.
Audrina Patridge
The Hills star Audrina Patridge has a tattoo of an apple and a snake on the back of her neck. This design is a reference to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. Audrina has taken some artistic liberties with this tattoo, though. The apple in her tattoo is in the shape of a human heart.
"My tattoo is a heart with four chambers that turns into an apple with a snake around it," wrote Audrina. “It symbolizes the story of Adam and Eve…and also temptation and destiny.”
Chris Brown
Chris Brown's neck tattoo made headlines years ago when some people thought that it might be a reference to his ex-girlfriend Rihanna. But according to his tattoo artist, this wasn't the case. Instead, Brown has a prominent tattoo of a sugar skull on his neck.
The design features a Mexican-themed skull in commemoration of Dia de Los Muertos, a holiday that's known in English as the "Day Of The Dead."
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie lived out her "wild child" days in the spotlight, so nobody is really surprised that she has a neck tattoo. Angelina has sixteen known tattoos, including a tiger on her lower back and a swirl on her forearm.
She also had a tattoo of her ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton's name on her upper arm, but she got that one removed and covered up with a design that references her children. She has a tattoo on the nape of her neck that says "know your rights."
Pink
Pink is also something of a tattoo fiend. Tattoos are somewhat addictive, and once you get one, it can be hard to stop yourself from wanting another. Pink has at least sixteen tattoos on her body. She has a barcode tattoo on the back of her neck that we can only guess is a reference to the commodification of celebrities and musicians.
But maybe it's not that deep. Maybe she just likes the way barcodes look in permanent ink.
Rihanna
Rihanna is covered in tattoos. She has at least twenty-five tattoos on her body including a skull on her ankle, a shark on her ankle, and a gun on her side. Rihanna has two neck tattoos. One is of the words "rebelle fleur" written in an elegant script. She got that ink in 2010.
She also has a trail of stars that go up her back and neck. She got this tattoo in 2008 from her favorite tattoo artist, Bang Bang. The stars match the three stars that Chris Brown has tattooed behind his ear.
Maisie Williams
Maisie Williams is most famous for playing Arya Stark on Game of Thrones. In that show, Arya was tasked with becoming a Faceless Man. She had to forget her identity and become "no one."
Maisie got the words "no one" inked on the back of her neck in August 2018. The red-ink tattoo is a tribute to Arya Stark's mindset as she trained at the House of Black and White. This tattoo almost looks like it's carved into her skin.
Halsey
Halsey is a huge Beck fan, which is why she has the lyrics "i'm a loser baby" tattooed along the left side of her neck in a delicate handwritten script. Another band called La Bouquet used the phrase in their 2017 song "Loser Baby," and Halsey is a fan of that song as well. She even took to Twitter to express how much she liked La Bouquet's unique sound.
Halsey’s tattoo was done by artist Jon Boy at Bang Bang Tattoos in New York City in January 2017.
Jordyn Woods
Jordyn Woods is best known for being Kylie Jenner's best friend. She was featured on the reality series Life of Kylie. Jordyn has a tattoo of the Roman numeral "XXIII" on the back of her neck. If you know anything about Roman numerals, you know that that means 23, and if you know anything about basketball, you know that Michael Jordan wears number 23 on his jersey.
Jordyn's brother John Woods did the tattoo at Los Angeles’ Why Not Ink Tattoo in November 2015.
Kelly Clarkson
Singer and first-ever American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson has the Japanese kanji symbol for "Blessed" tattooed on the back of her neck. This isn't Kelly's only tattoo, though. She has fourteen tattoos that the public knows about, including a flower on her ankle, a snowflake behind her ear, and a kite on her wrist.
She also has a tattoo of a puzzle piece with a scene from The Wizard of Oz inside it on her back.